How the Animorphs saved Christmas
by PowerPen
Summary: LOL, this one is insane. Mad dash around the world in one night. Ellimist acting weird. Ax comes to terms with magic. T rating for language breathing room. Happy new years, and thanks to all you reviewers out there!
1. Chapter 1

**HOW THE ANIMORPHS SAVED CHRISTMAS**

**Disclamer: **You know the drill. All the Animorphs and Company belong to K. A. Applegate.

**A/N: **Okay, Okay. I know Rachel wouldn't do this. But it's _funny_!

** December 16**

"Hey, Rachel." Tobias called. He, Marco, and Ax emerged from the food court to see Rachel, clutching five shopping bags in her hands. "That's more bags than even you normally have. What's up?"

Rachel shot him a puzzled look. She pointed at the big Santa display. "Duh."

"Oh, yeah." Tobias said, blushing. "I, you know, forgot. For a second."

"How can you forget Christmas?" Ax said. "It is the most wonderful season! A time for giving! That is why you should buy your loved one some Kay jewelry, half price off at participating stores. Every kiss begins with Kay."

"Please!" Marco moaned. "You've been telling us the Christmas commercial for every store we've passed."

"That is because I am trying to remember the commercial for the store that is selling cinnamon buns at a discount. Diiiisssk. Count. Disk." Ax said, then added. "Count."

"Come on, I've got to meet my mom and Jordan in a few minutes." Rachel said, checking her watch. The four started walking towards the entrance.

_"Attention shoppers, Toys R' Us has received a shipment of five Xboxes." _The loudspeaker boomed. _"Attention. Five Xboxes only. But we ask you to proceed in an orderly manner-"_

His noise was lost in the noise of a thousand customers stampeding.

"Isn't that what you were going to get Prince Jake?" Ax said, ignoring Marco and Tobias shaking their heads frantically.

"Uh - Yeah!" Rachel said. She thrust her bags at Marco and rolled up her sleeves.

"Rachel..." Marco sighed. "How long have you been planning to get him an Xbox?"

"Since-" Rachel checked her watch. "3 minutes."

Rachel rushed into the crowd. Tobias, Marco and Ax looked at each other, and ran after her.

"It's war time!" Rachel yelled, punching through the crowd. She disappeared into the Toys R' Us entrance.

"Would you people move!" Tobias yelled, struggling to get to Rachel. The crowd was surging towards Toys R' Us, but didn't appear to be getting anywhere at all.

Marco moaned and clutched his stomach. Tobias and Ax looked at him.

"Are you feeling abdominal discomfort, Marco?" Ax said. "Would you like some Pepto-Bismol? It is half price off at the K-mart Pharmacy."

"I-" Marco's cheeks bulged out. "I think I'm going to barf!"

"Ahh!" A lady screamed. "He's going to throw up!"

The crowd thinned out in front of Marco immediately. Ax and Tobias grabbed Marco by his arms and ran forward. Marco covered his mouth to hide his grin.

(Good job.) Ax said in private thought-speak, and started looking for Rachel.

"Oh!" Tobias gasped in shock, and pointed. Rachel had two plastic shovels in her hands, and was standing on top of a pile of boxes. Around her was a pile of people nursing their black eyes and scraped arms.

"This is inappropriate behavior!" Ax exclaimed. "Why do humans do these things?!?!"

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing, Ax-man." Marco said, shaking his head. He grabbed a plastic Tonka construction helmet, a Dark Knight shield, and a Power Ranger DinoThunder sword. "But if you can't beat em..."

Tobias grabbed a banjo, a slingshot and a box of Super balls. "Join em." He finished.

Tobias and Marco stood back to back, swinging banjo and sword. They started fighting towards Rachel.

"Barbaric." Ax said. He leaned against a shelf. "Absolutely primitive."

He watched Marco battling an employee who was swinging a broom. Tobias loaded a super ball into his slingshot and hit him on the head.

"That looked almost enjoyable." Ax said. He eyed a water gun and a bottle of bubble-mix.

Ax grabbed the bubble-mix and poured it into the gun. "Perhaps Marco and Tobias require assistance."

Ax ran into the crowd, whooping and firing the water gun.

"Marco!" Tobias bellowed. He pointed to five security guards racing into the room.

"Crap!" Marco kicked a man into a shelf. "Get Rachel. Hide and demorph to hawk."

RACHEL! Tobias yelled. He ran beneath the checkout counter. Stop it!

"Hah!" Marco sent the employee's broom flying. Marco hit him in the head with the hilt of his sword, and the employee tumbled away.

"I am here to assist." Ax said. He came next to Marco and started firing. "Even though I am not enjoying any part of this violent escapade."

"Thanks, but we can't get through this crowd!" Marco said. "Tobias is going hawk and flying over to Rachel."

"I believe that those stacked levels will support our weight." Ax said, pointing to the shelves.

"Let's try." Marco said. He pushed past a lady and jumped onto the shelf. "Seems sturdy enough."

Ax jumped for the shelf, but somebody grabbed him.

"Hah!" The security guard yelled. "Get off the shelf, kid!"

"Oh, Crap, The Fuzz!" Ax yelled. He squirted the security guard in the face. "Scatter! Every man for himself!"

"AX!" Marco sighed. "What have you been watching?"

Ax ignored him and dove through the shelf.

He landed in the next aisle and rolled to his feet perfectly. Two more guards ran around the corner. Looking around franticly, he spied a Tonka ride-along truck.

"Yes!" He leapt in. "A getaway car!"

"We really need to turn off your TV." Marco sighed. He was running on top of the shelf, and Ax was puttering along below him.

"Hah Hah!" Ax yelled gleefully, and emptied the last of his water gun onto the floor. One security guard skidded and landed on the floor with a splash. The other one tripped over him. Ax raised his fist in triumph.

(She's two shelves over Marco.) Tobias called. He was floating high up among the metal beams. Gonna have to jump.

Marco gritted his teeth. "This is insane!" He yelled, and leapt.

"Ahh!" Marco's right sneaker slapped the shelf and slid off, and his left foot caught under the shelf.

"Argh!" Marco grabbed the shelf with his left hand, letting his shield drop. Grunting with the effort, he pulled himself up.

He sat panting for a second, and then hurled himself onto the next shelf. "Oof." He landed on top of the shelf with a loud thud. "I'm only supposed to have to do this type of stuff during missions."

(Look out!) Tobias yelled. Marco rolled to the side, and a shovel hit the shelf next to him. It bounced over the edge and hit a guard on the head.

"Rachel, it's me!" Marco yelped. He leapt up and knocked her other shovel flying with a lucky, wild swing. "Chill! You are out of control!"

Rachel growled and reached below her.

(Marco, below, on the shelf!) Tobias yelled. Marco looked down and saw toy light sabers.

(No, look up, you idiot!) Tobias screeched.

Marco forgave Tobias for calling him an idiot as he jumped out of the way of Rachel's powerful swing. The light saber left a dent in the shelf where he was.

"Put it down, Xena." He said. He raised his sword. Rachel growled, a wild look in her eyes. She raised her light saber.

"ROOOAR!" Rachel bellowed, and started hacking crazily at Marco. Marco barely parried and blocked each blow. He was slowly being forced backwards towards the edge of the shelf.

"HA!" Rachel yelled triumphantly, slamming Marco square in the chest with her light saber. Marco flailed wildly on the edge for a moment, and then tumbled off the shelf. "NOOO!"

SQUEAK!

(Squeak?) Tobias said. (SQUEAK?)

Marco landed inside of a dump truck full of rubber ducks. "I have you, Marco." Ax said calmly. He turned the truck around and drove alongside the shelf.

Marco stood up slowly, looking for his weapon. Not finding it, he reached up and grabbed a light saber as they went past. He put it between his teeth and prepared to jump.

"Go kick some ass." Ax said.

HEY! UH-UH! Tobias yelled. I AM GOING TO UNPLUG YOUR TV AS **_SOON_** AS WE GET HOME!

Marco jumped up and swung himself back onto the shelf. Rachel sneered. "You again!" She charged at Marco.

ZEEW! ZEEW! The light sabers made corny zapping noises as they clashed into each other.

"Stop it Rachel! You're not even trying to get the Xbox! You just want to beat people up!" Marco yelled. He got in a blow on the side of her arm. "War time is over!"

_Over...Over...Over...Over..._

**ZEEW! **Marco's saber went spiraling away. "_What did you say?" _She hissed. The lights flickered.

Uh-oh. Tobias said.

"Uh..Heh." Marco chuckled. "I didn't say anything."

"_WHAT DID YOU SAY?_"Rachel bellowed.

"I said... TOBIAS LOOP AROUND HER!" Marco yelled. Tobias's eyes glowed.

"_AHHH!"_ Rachel yelled.

PLOOSH! PLOOSH! PLOOSH! PLOOSH!

"Hahahaha." Marco laughed. Suddenly he stopped. "Ulp."

Rachel was fine. He saber was covered, but she untouched.

(She's too angry!) Ax yelled. (I fear that you are doomed, Marco.)

Rachel swung her saber at Marco, but he dodged.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Three impossibly fast blow. Three impossibly fast dodges.

(What the-) Tobias said, looking down in amazement.

(That is impossible!) Ax exclaimed in shock. (Human skeletal structure is too rigid to allow such fluid movement. Can all humans do this?)

(The laws of physics don't apply to Marco when it comes to dodging- Well, you know.) Tobias sighed. (The saber's covered in it.)

Rachel growled and threw down her saber. She started jumping from shelf to shelf.

"Get over here!" Marco yelled. He jumped after Rachel.

"Yeah, get over here!" Jake yelled, running below. Rachel fell from surprise, and Jake grabbed her and shook her.

Rachel cursed. The wild gleam disappeared from her eyes. "When did you get here?"

"When I heard that _somebody _was rampaging through a store." Jake said. "I thought, 'Hmm. Who could that be?"

"Jake, Rachel's 'buying you an Xbox.' " Marco said. "Oops. Sorry Rachel. Guess you can't get it for him anymore."

Rachel glared at Marco, and then looked around. There were still a few people left that she could fight. She looked hopefully at Jake. "Think Jordan would want an Xbox?"

"No I wouldn't." Jordan said, entering Toys R' Us. "Come on, Rachel. Mom sent me to make sure you aren't trying to get an-"

She stopped and looked around. "Xbox." She finished dryly. She stepped carefully over the people lying on the ground, who were struggling to get up. She grabbed Rachel's arm and tugged her towards the exit.

Rachel grumbled and yanked her arm away. She stomped out. "You don't think Sara wants-"

"No, Rachel!"


	2. Chapter 2

**December 17**

(Only at Wal-Mart, and for a limited time only. Hurry to Wal-Mart for holiday sales!) Ax said.

(You know, Christmas specials are coming on.) Marco said. (You do want to still have a TV to watch them.)

They were flying towards Ax's scoop. Between the three of them, they were carrying strings of light, tinsel, and baubles. Ax had decided to decorate his scoop after watching _A Christmas Story_, so Tobias and Marco were giving him a hand. They were going to do it yesterday, but Rachel had worn them out. (She had been grounded until Christmas Eve, by the way.)

(Let's fly a little lower, into the trees.) Tobias advised. (Anyone who saw us would think we were trying to decorate our nests or something.)

(Yeah, Then we might win best looking nest award.) Marco laughed.

They were about to drop into the forest, when they heard a voice calling.

"Tobias, Ax? Is that you?"

They looked down to see Cassie waving and jumping.

Tobias sighed. (Who else would it be?)

"Come look at this!" Cassie said. "It's really important!"

(No, thanks.) Marco said, flying faster.

"It has something to do with the, um, _Jerks._" Cassie said.

Marco reluctantly dropped the lights and swooped into the barn. Tobias and Ax followed him.

"See!" Cassie said. She pointed to a deer lying on its side on the floor. It was breathing heavily, and its eyes were glazed over.

(Aw, poor deer.) Marco said in a bored voice. (Can we go now?)

"No, look!" Cassie said. She gently turned the deer around, revealing a large semi-circle burn on its back.

(So the yeerks shot a deer.) Tobias said. (They probably just thought it was one of us in morph. I doubt they're up to anything.)

Cassie stomped her foot. "Would you let me finish!" She pointed to the white spots on its coat. "See the shape of those spots, the fur color, and the horn size? That means that it's a reindeer."

(Is this fact relevant?) Ax asked. (Are reindeer of some special importance to humans?)

(They're supposed to pull Santa's sleigh.) Tobias said. (It's just a big coincidence that some yeerk shot one around Christmas.)

"But earlier today, some carolers sang _Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer_." Cassie explained. "When they said 'Donner', the reindeer tried to get up. Don't you get it?"

Marco started laughing loudly and rudely. Cassie took a deep breath and continued.

"The Yeerks are trying to ruin Christmas!"


	3. Chapter 3

(Ha!) Marco laughed. (Come on, Cassie. You believe in Santa Claus? You think the yeerks believe in Santa Claus? You think they're trying to ruin Christmas?)

Marco collapsed into fits of laughter.

"It all fits!" Cassie said.

(Who is this Santa Claus?) Ax wondered.

(Aw, Cassie.) Tobias sighed. (Santa isn't real.)

"Yes he is!" Cassie said. "I believe in him!"

(Please, Who is this Santa Claus?) Ax asked loudly.

(Didn't that book we give you say something about Santa Claus?) Tobias said (You know, delivering toys around the world...)

(I do not recall one called Santa Claus doing that.) Ax said. (I believe the one who does that is called Saint Nicholas.)

(That's just another name for the same person.) Tobias explained.

(But he is illogical!) Ax exclaimed. (Human technology is far too primitive to allow one man to visit the whole world in one night. That task is beyond even Andalite technology.)

"He's magical!" Cassie snapped.

(Magic is illogical also.) Ax said. (I am surprised that humans believe in it. Even with their crude, inaccurate science, they should be able to logically eliminate magic as a force in the universe.)

(We don't believe in magic!) Marco yelled. (Just certain people who don't know anything about anything!)

"Please be quiet." The deer coughed. "You're very loud."

"Okay." Jake said, pacing back and forth. "You dragged me out of bed, had us sneak Rachel out of her room, and gathered us all here at 1: 30 in the morning to tell us that this deer talked."

(It did, Prince Jake!) Ax said. (We all heard it.)

"It did." Marco nodded. "I don't know why, or how, but it did."

Tobias bobbed his hawk head up and down.

"Deer cannot talk!" Jake said. "That is a fact. You were all up too late or something."

"Reindeer!" Cassie said.

"Okay." Jake rubbed his temple. "Let's say this _reindeer_ did talk. What does this have to do with me?"

"I need your help." The reindeer croaked.

Everyone spun around.

"What was that?" Jake said, looking around wildly.

"I believe that was the deer that cannot talk." Marco said smugly. "I believe that it was talking."

Jake swished his finger around in his ear and leaned close to the deer "Come again?"

"Would you idiots listen to me!" The reindeer bellowed. Jake jerked backwards. The deer hacked and coughed. "Now listen. My name is Donner. The yeerks attacked us. They managed to break through the nondetection aura we put around the workshop. A bunch of bug fighters destroyed the workshop."

(Wait.) Tobias interrupted. (How do you know about the yeerks? Why did they attack you?)

"An elf was a controller." Donner groaned. "When she tried to get to the yeerk pool, she got lost in a blizzard. By the time we found her, the yeerk had died. She told us. The elf was an important controller, and when she didn't come to the yeerk pool, the yeerks figured she was freed and had told us. They have been trying to kill us for years, so that secret would remain a secret."

"What's this got to do with us?" Jake said.

"We managed to get the Claus' and a handful of elves out on the sleigh." He said. "We were shot from the sky by a bug fighter. I was injured, and crashed in the woods near here. That girl's father-" He motioned to Cassie. "Found me and brought me here. But I will die."

(What can we do?) Tobias said quietly.

"The others." He coughed. "They have made it away. They have probably already started to rebuild the workshop. But we won't make Christmas this year. There's not enough time. I have only one request."

Everybody looked at the deer. It gazed at them with glazed eyes.

"If you can somehow manage to do it." Donner said weakly. "I have seen you morph. I know you are the 'Andalite Bandits'. Take my DNA. If it is within your power...Could you...please...Save Christmas."


	4. Chapter 4

They stood outside the barn, their breath exiting their mouths in misty clouds. Jake was still pacing up and down.

"Even though I can't believe any of this," He said. "We need a plan. Somehow we need to make 6 billion toys, break into billions of houses, and go around the world in one night."

He stopped pacing and looked at them. "Any suggestions?"

"We use elves." Donner said. He was lying on the grass, and eating some too. "We have about two thousand million of them."

(I see.) Ax said. (Each elf would have to make 8.219 toys daily to fill the quota of 6 billion toys.)

"Hey, wait!" Marco said. "What about the naughty-nice list? You know that about 99 of kids are on the naughty list."

"When I last checked, it was about 75 on the naughty list." Donner said.

"We have six days." Jake sighed. "We need a quarter billion toys per day."

(That is most likely impossible.) Ax said.

Marco got a thoughtful look on his face.

"And we can't even carry the toys." Rachel said. "What can carry 1.5 billion toys?"

"Santa's sleigh is magical." Donner said. Ax twitched his stalk eye.

"And we need to travel around the world in one night." Jake sighed. "How does Santa do that?"

"Magic." Donner said. Ax rolled all four of his eyes.

(And what happens to the presents that the parents bought?) Tobias demanded.

"I don't know." Donner shrugged. "You can ask Santa later. I think it has something to do with magic."

(Magic!) Ax sneered. (It does not exist!)

Donner struggled to his feet and staggered over to Ax. He jammed his face in Ax's. They looked oddly alike, An alien blue-furred, scorpion-tailed Andalite, and Santa's magical, sleigh-pulling reindeer. "Magic does too exist." He snapped.

(IT CANNOT!) Ax exploded. Everyone stepped back away from the usually calm Andalite. (It is illogical! You are a fraud! You are a trick! You. Do. Not. EXIST!)

Donner lowered his head and snorted, pawing the ground. Ax's tail blade twitched.

"Okay, that is enough." Jake said, bravely stepping between them. "Ax-man, Chill. Donner, lie back down. We don't have time for the Andalite-Reindeer Showdown. I need ideas people, right now."

Marco finally looked up. "I think I have a way."

Everyone gathered around Marco. Marco picked up a stick and started drawing in the dirt.

"Okay." Marco said seriously. "We need about 1.5 billion toys in six days. The only people I can think of who are fast enough are the Chee. There are about three thousand of them, so that would be-"

Marco looked up at Ax. (Approximately 0.0005 billion toys per Chee per day. Or 5.787037037037037037037037037035e-9 toys per second.) Ax said.

Everybody looked at Ax blankly. Marco shook his head and continued. "Okay. Now, we split up. There are six of us, so that's three teams. We each take half a billion toys, and hope reindeer can fly real fast."

"We fly at 60 mph." Donner said, lowering himself painfully to the ground. Tobias groaned.

"Who are we kidding?" Marco snorted. He threw down the stick. "We'll never do it."

(We will do it!) Ax said. (We have to!)

Everyone looked at Ax. "What made you change your mood?" Jake said.

Donner smirked, his eyes involuntarily closing. "He wants to prove… that you don't have to be magic… to be Santa. He doesn't want to be… disillusioned… of his… silly view… of the universe."

Ax looked away but didn't answer.

"Fine." Jake said, turning sadly away from Donner. "We'll try."


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you insane?!?" Erek yelled.

(Um, we like to think that we're not.) Tobias said

They were at the Chee home, and had just asked them about the toys. Erek was taking it worse than they thought.

"We could do it, but it might blow our cover!" Erek yelled. "A week away from the yeerk pool, and the yeerks might notice. Do you think Christmas is more important than saving the world?"

"No, no!" Cassie said hastily. "I mean, are you all really important controllers?"

"Greg is an extremely important controller, along with about twenty other Chee." Erek said, slightly calmer.

(How about all the other Chee, then?) Tobias said. (Those twenty go about there normal routines, and you guys make the toys.)

"We'd have to increase our toy creation rate by 0.5 percent." Erek said. "We wouldn't have time to recharge, so we'd need a massive power source."

"How big?" Cassie said apprehensively.

"About 1.21 gigawatts." Erek said.

(1.21 gigawatts!) Tobias exclaimed.

"Yes." Erek said. "Surely you have such a power supply somewhere on earth?"

(Well, yeah.) Tobias said. (But you don't just pick some AA batteries from the supermarket to get that kind of energy.)

"Just tell us where the power supply is, and we can tap it." Erek said. He sounded slightly smug. "We can tap any power supply on the planet."

(Um.) Tobias said. (Tap a couple of nuclear power plants.)

"Which ones?" Erek said impatiently. A hologram of the earth appeared, with a glowing power grid.

Cassie pointed to a couple a points. "That one, um, that one, ooh, that red one looks pretty."

(Red means that it's a low power generator. Don't listen to her, Erek.) Tobias sighed. (Take those two bright green ones a couple of miles from here, that yellow one near here, that orange one, and the high-power white all the way over there.)

Erek touched the points in quick sequence. After a moment, they glowed. Erek started humming loudly.

"IGuessThisIsWhatYouFeelLikeWhenYouHaveTooMuchSugarOrCaffine." Erek said quickly. He ran up the steps and back down in a millisecond. "AnyoneWannaRace?"

He ran around the house five hundred times in half a second.

(Maybe I shouldn't have added that white one.) Tobias said privately to Cassie.

"Let'sGetToWorkPeople." Erek babbled. He sat down and built two hundred dolls.

"WorkWorkWork!" Chee yelled. They all sat down and started building toys.

Tobias and Cassie helped them find a couple of toy blueprints to download, and then left them to their toys. They met Jake outside.

"How'd it go?" Jake asked. Tobias was about to answer when the windows of the house filled with toys.

"Never mind." Jake grinned. Then he frowned. "Oh yeah. We came up with a highly suicidal plan to carry all of those toys around the world."

(More like Rachel came up with a highly suicidal plan to carry all of those toys around the world.) Marco said, flying overhead. (Only Rachel would think of a plan as insane as this.)


	6. Chapter 6

"I'd like a happy meal." Ax said. He smiled at the cashier.

(With extra happy.) Tobias reminded.

(But I really want a happy meal.) Ax argued. (The aroma is overpowering!)

(With extra happy!) Tobias commanded.

"With extra happy." Ax said grumpily.

The cashier laughed like she'd heard the joke a million times. She probably had.

Ax smiled and walked towards the bathroom. Out of sight of the customers, he ducked into the kitchen.

(We are here.) Ax said. He opened the walk-in fridge.

(Good, 'cause I do not want to stay in here any longer than necessary.) Rachel grumbled. (Gross nation.)

Ax walked into the fridge and closed the door behind him.

"Please shield your eyes from the gleet-biofilter." A mechanical voice droned.

Ax shut his eyes. (This is it.) He said.

FLASH! The gleet-biofilter went off, and Ax felt sudden pain in his nose.

(AHHH!) Came the mixed cries of his friends.

(Is everybody still alive?) Ax called. There was no answer.

(Please affirm your continued existence!) Ax cried.

(Huh?) Rachel said groggily. (We're here. We just can't really move that well.)

(What happened?) Ax asked, moving down the dirt staircase.

(You're sinuses suddenly flared up. Cassie got frightened and bumped into the back of your nose.) Jake groaned. (We're sort of stuck in-)

(Mucus. Snot. Nose juice.) Marco offered.

(We need you to get us out.) Rachel said. (Yuck. And hurry.)

Ax emerged into the yeerk pool. He cringed inwardly at the cries and screams of the hosts, but knew he couldn't reveal anything. A real controller wouldn't care.

"I cab breed true my dose." Ax said to himself.

"Huh?" A passing controller asked, giving him a puzzled look.

"I haf a colt." Ax lied, nodding. "Stubby dose. Cab breed true it."

"Oh." The controller said, hurrying away. "Well, don't give it me."

Ax hurried though the pool, looking around for something to unclog his nose.

"Hey, you!" A Gedd snapped. Ax spun around.

"Visser three want you." It nodded. "He says, get you."

Ax looked frightened. The Gedd patted him on the back sympathetically. "You mebbe die. Visser mad."

The Gedd led Ax over to the Visser's room. Ax wished his knees would stop shaking.

(Ax.) Jake said. (Cassie isn't responding. What are you doing? Get us out of here!)

Ax ignored Jake and stepped forward. The Visser glared at him.

(I have been waiting.) The Visser said icily. (You should not keep me waiting. It is bad for your health.)

"Yes, Visser." Ax said through clenched teeth.

(You look different from the last time I saw you.) Visser said. (You do not look like Tom.)

Ax's eyes widened. He had created a new human morph for today by recombining the Animorphs' DNA. He had used a lot of Rachel's and Jake's. Somehow, he must have managed to look like Tom. Enough so that a poor-sighted Gedd would mistake him for Tom.

"P-Plastic surgery, Sir." Ax stammered. "It was ten-percent off at Medicare plus. Look beautiful for the holidays."

The Visser sneered. (Humans are so vain. Report.)

"R-Report?" Ax said, trying with a super-human effort to keep the hatred from his voice.

(How is the tracking of Santa coming.) Visser snapped. (Did you find the escaped elves and reindeer?)

"Um." Ax was trying to find something to say that wouldn't get the real Tom killed. "We are on their tail. We have hunted them down, and are about to capture them soon."

(Acceptable.) The Visser sneered. (And Conner?)

Ax wanted to scream, "It's Donner, you moron!". But he restrained himself. "Dead." he said. "Definitely dead."

(Good.) Visser nodded. (You may go.)

Ax turned around to see two Hork-Bajir warriors pointing dracon beams at him. Behind them was the real Tom.

(After,) The Visser said softly. (You tell me who you really are.)

Ax froze. He looked back and forth.

(Well?) The Visser laughed. (We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.)

"I choose..." Ax said slowly, focusing with all of his will power. "I think that I choose..."

He backed against the wall. "I know! Neither!"

FWAPP!

He whipped his half-formed tail forward and knocked a surprised Hork-Bajir off balance. He bowled him over and raced out the door.

(ANDALITE BANDIT!) The Visser bellowed.

Tom fired at him, but the shot was way off.

Ax kicked a Taxxon in front of the door and sliced a huge gash in it's side. Immediately, a huge wave of Taxxons dove on top of it.

Ax ran.

(Move, you disgusting worms!) Visser bellowed, chopping at the Taxxons. He was just adding to the problem, as more and more Taxxons dove for the fresh meat. If he had just waited, they would have gone away after a while. But nobody with any brains was going to try to tell an angry Visser Three that.

(Ax, We're getting heavy vibrations in here!) Marco yelled. (What in the world are you doing?)

Ax raced for the food court. Surprised controllers stared at his tail protruding from his rear end. Some recovered fast enough to pull out their dracon beams.

"HAH!" Ax cried, diving across a table. He grabbed a bottle of pepper and sprinkled some into his nose.

(What the-) Jake began.

"AACHOOO!" Ax sneezed.

(AHHHH!) The Animorphs screamed. They landed in a man's tray of fries. The man looked disgusted.

"Give me those!" Ax yelled, and grabbed the tray of fries. He dashed out of the food court, dodging dracon fire and racing for the launching bay. Maybe they could still pull off their plan.

(Demorph!) He yelled, ducking behind a pool ship. Five tiny black dots soon became discernible from the other black dots of pepper.

They grew from five snot and pepper covered fleas into four snot and pepper covered teenagers and one snot and pepper cover bird.

"Uugh!" Marco groaned. "It's times like these that I wish we had full body morphing outfits.

"Yuck." Rachel spat on the floor. "This is disgusting!"

"Okay people." Jake said with a grossed out look on his face. "We'll be disgusted later. Ax, hack into two bug fighters."

(Already done, Prince Jake.) Ax said, fully demorphed. The doors of two bug fighters stood open.

"Three in this one, Three in that one." Jake commanded. "Ax, Cassie, and me in this one. Marco, Rachel, And Tobias in that one."

They heard the pounding of leathery feet on the steel floor. Hork-Bajir.

"Move people!" Jake snapped, racing inside. They piled into the fighters.

"Hah!" Marco crowed, jumping into the pilot seat. Rachel shrugged and sat down in the co-pilot seat.

"The co-pilot gets to fire the weapons, Marco." Rachel laughed. Marco cursed.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Marco yelled. Ax's ship was already starting to launch. "Tobias, ask Ax how to close the door."

(Ho do you close the door!) Tobias yelled. He could see the Hork-Bajir closing in on their fighter.

(The flashing R- -----!)Ax called faintly.

Marco jabbed a flashing red button. Rachel's console glowed.

"Cool!" Rachel said. "You just activated the weapons!"

"Hold 'em off!" Marco yelled, searching for a flashing something.

Rachel grabbed the joystick eagerly and started mowing down the Hork-Bajir with the ship dracons. The twin lasers were melting the floor and incinerating Hork-Bajir. The Lasers were designed to blast through force fields and armor, not skin and flesh. It was a massacre.

TSEEW! TSEEW!

"Don't fire so close to the ship!" Marco yelled, as debris flecked the window.

"Oops." Rachel said. Three Hork-Bajir dodged the beams and charged for the door.

Suddenly a green button next to a speaker started flashing. Marco slapped it just as the Hork-Bajir reached the door.

(Can you hear me Marco? Marco, do you read?) Ax said. His thought speak voice was coming through the speaker. (The flashing red switch. Above your head. Pull it.)

Marco grabbed the switch above his head and yanked it down. The door hissed shut, slamming down on the second Hork-Bajir. The head Hork-Bajir dove through.

(One Hork-Bajir.) Tobias swore.

"And a half." Marco chuckled at the upper half of a Hork-Bajir lying on the floor.

TSSEER! Tobias dove at the Hork-Bajir. But he couldn't fly too well with his wings weighted down. He was batted across the room.

"Grash-Korhar!" It growled, and ripped Marco from the seat. Marco yelled and started kicking ineffectively at it's stomach.

ZSEW! Sparks flew from the console as the Hork-Bajir slammed Marco into it.

"AHHH!" Marco bellowed, as the ship rocketed backwards. Marco and Rachel slammed into the front window. The Hork-Bajir landed on top of them with a sickening crunch.

(I have a visual on you!) Ax yelled. Marco must have turned on a screen when he hit the console, because Ax's face was on a TV to the left. (Turn off your reverse! The front window is sustaining too much pressure!)

"Yeah, Like I didn't think of that!" Marco snapped.

As if on queue, a crack appeared on the window.

Thump! Tobias hit the window.

"Marco! Stop the ship!" Rachel growled, tying to push herself off the window. It cracked some more.

(Oh no!) Tobias groaned. (Miss Scarlet with the _pipe_ in the kitchen. I thought you had used the candlestick. Shame on you.)

"I can't." Marco choked. The Hork-Bajir had him by the neck. "Help, Xena!"

Rachel kicked out and hit the red flashing switch.

"AHH!" Marco yelled. They were all tumbling towards the open door. The Hork-Bajir and Rachel fell from the ship.

"GRAAAARRRRR!" It yelled. It grabbed onto the edge of the doorway. Rachel grabbed it's flailing tail.

"Close the door!" Rachel yelled, feathers sprouting from her arms.

Marco grabbed Tobias before he fell out the door, and pulled the red switch. The door began closing.

"Korar!" The Hork-Bajir bellowed in pain as the door closed on it's fingers. Rachel and the Hork-Bajir spiraled away.

"How do I stop this crazy thing?" Marco yelled. He started flipping switches and levers.

Suddenly, the engines cut off. The Bug Fighter plummeted through the air.

"Marco!" Jake's face appeared on the screen. It was red. "You are never flying another bug fighter again!"

"It was the stupid Hork-Bajir! He screwed up the controls!" Marco kicked the console, and the engines turned back on.

"Sit down and do exactly as Ax tells you!" Jake commanded. Marco sat down, and Ax described the basic controls. Pretty soon he knew how to fly it. Marco style.

(The goose!) Tobias yelled. (The goose! The goose! The goose!)

"I see it!" Marco barked, yanking the bug fighter upwards.

(The plane!) Ax yelled. Luckily, the cloaking was on, or else a dozen passengers would have seen a bug fighter narrowly miss their left wing.

Thud! A hawk splattered against the window.

(Hey!) Tobias yelled angrily. (That was a red tail! Fly higher, Marco!)

Thwack! Marco nicked a pigeon's wing, and it careened crazily away.

"Stop hitting birds!" Cassie yelled, sticking her tongue out at Marco on the view screen. Marco ignored her.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Marco hit a flock of geese.

(DO YOU HATE BIRDS?) Tobias bellowed.

Marco narrowly missed an eagle. "Ha!" He said. "Dodged that one."

(As if!) The Eagle snorted. (I dodged you.)

(Rachel!) Tobias cried out in joy. Marco yanked the bug fighter into a hover and opened the door. The eagle swooped in.

"Just in time." Marco laughed, landing sloppily on the Chee roof. The other bug fighter smoothly settled down next to them.

"Well, that was exciting." Jake said. He stepped from his bug fighter, jumping over two Taxxons in the doorway. "Those two were doing repairs. Ax took care of them."

"Now we just need the Chee to disassemble these things." Jake said. He looked down and frowned. "Doesn't this roof seem bigger than normal?"

"Too bad we couldn't get another one of these things." Marco sighed. "Bet it goes faster than reindeer."

The Animorphs morphed and flew down from the roof. Rachel and Tobias, already birds, got inside first. They were staring at a massive basement, filled to the top with an assortment of toys.

(What happened to the dogs?) Cassie cried out.

"WeBuiltThem_Another_Basement!" Mr. King yelled. "AndWeExpandedOurWholeHouse!"

(I-I see.) Jake said. (How many toys have you made?)

"We'reAheadOfSchedule!" Erek said. "ByTwentyThousandToys!

AtThisRateWe'llBeDoneTwoDaysEarly!"

"Nope!" Mr. King shook his head at hyper-speed. "WeHaveToTake ATenMinuteBreakEveryDay! SoThatWeDon'tBurnout!"

(Well, you'll still get done in time.) Tobias said. (Thanks for all you help. Can you do one more thing?)

(WeAlreadyDeassembledTheTelporterFromTheBugFighters.)

Erek said. (WeAlsoMadeYouASleighFromTheSpareParts.)

(Thanks.) Jake said, amazed. (We might actually pull this off.)


	7. Chapter 7

**December 24, 11:00 PM - Christmas Eve night.**

The Animorphs had spent Christmas eve with their families, and pretended they were going to a Christmas eve party. Most of them had to be home by one and two. They would really arrive home by about seven or eight.

"We are going to be totally grounded." Marco moaned.

"Consider yourself lucky." Rachel sighed. "My mom _barely_ let me come out tonight. I'm going to be grounded till next Christmas."

"Think about that the next time you decide to rampage through a toy store." Marco smirked.

"Alright." Jake said, cutting off Rachel's retort. "We have six people. Now, we don't need as many reindeer as Santa does, so I guess four will be good. Somebody needs to make sure the sleigh is always stocked, and someone needs to actually go inside the house. We'll take shifts so that we don't get bored."

The Animorphs nodded.

"Chee, when you get a call over the radio, put the toy that we request on the teleporter and hit the button, okay?" Jake said. The Chee were slumped on the ground, extremely tired from their mad toy rush. None of them had up holograms. Greg and the other Chee who hadn't gone into hyper mode would be doing the teleporting.

Greg nodded, And Jake took everyone outside to the sleigh.

"Who wants to be a reindeer?" Jake asked. Cassie raised her hand.

"Who wants to keep the sleigh stocked?" Jake asked. Nobody raised their hands.

"Who wants to go inside the houses?" Jake sighed. Everyone raised their hands.

Jake grabbed five twigs from the ground. He broke one in half, and broke one half into half.

"Four big ones are reindeer." Jake said. "The medium loads the toys, and the small one goes in the houses."

Everyone grabbed a twig.

No! Tobias cursed. He had a reindeer twig.

Aw! Ax sighed. He got to load the sleigh.

Marco triumphantly lifted the tiny twig into the air. "Marco Claus is comin' to town." He sang. "Marco Claus is comin' town. Marco Claus is com-min' to Tow-wn!"

"Shut up." Jake laughed. He began to morph reindeer. "Let's go people."

Antlers popped from his head. Brown fur covered his body. His hands hardened into hooves. He bones reversed direction with a sick slurping noise. Magnificent brown antlers grew from his skull. Jake was a reindeer. The others quickly followed him.

"Cool." Jake said in a deep, rich voice. "I can still talk."

Marco tied Jake and Rachel to the sleigh. Then he tied on Cassie and Tobias.

"Ho Ho Ho!" Marco said, climbing in next to Ax. "Let's start this crazy trip!"

Rachel, Tobias, Jake and Cassie charged for the edge of the roof. They leapt into the air, and soared . . . towards the ground.

"Ahhh!" Cassie screamed.

"Ahhh!" Jake agreed.

"Up, Go Up!" Marco screamed. "_Up_ you stupid people!"

"I think I would be if I could!" yelled Tobias.

"Remember that poem, _Twas the night before Christmas?_" Rachel yelled. "Didn't Santa Claus say, 'On Prancer, On Dancer, On Dasher-"

"Let's skip to the 'On, Donner' Part!" Marco yelled. Instantly the reins went taunt. The four falling Reindeer began hovering feebly.

"I sort of felt something." Tobias said. "Some part of the reindeer's brain just clicked."

"Could we please land before figuring this out?" Cassie whimpered. They drifted down slowly in a circle.

"I've got it." Marco said. "On Rachel, On Jake, On Tobias and Cassie!"

"Whoa!" Rachel said. She suddenly powered herself into the air.

"You know, you need people's real names and all that for magic spells." Marco said, smirking slyly at Ax. "Says so in all the books."

Ax growled.

'Let's move." Jake said for about the third time. "We wasted about a minute with that goofing around."

"First house." Erek said over the radio. "321 Sycamore street. A dollhouse, a racecar, and a mountain bike."

"Um, something doesn't feel right." Rachel said as they flew toward the house.

"Yeah." Jake said. He searched the reindeer's mind.

"Naughty!" Jake yelled. "That's it! Somehow I know the Naughty-Nice list."

"Must be magic." Tobias whispered, so Ax couldn't hear. Jake nodded.

"Boy, these kids were naughty. Let's give these toys to the next house." Rachel said.

The Animorphs flew next door. "That was simple." Jake said. Marco grabbed the dollhouse and the racecar. He balanced cautiously onto the roof. "Throw down the bike after me." he said. He saluted, and leapt down the chimney.

"AHHHH!" Marco yelled, scraping the hard stone sides.

"Oof." Marco landed on a hard bed of coals.

Clunk! A lady dropped the lighter she held in her hands. She stared at Marco.

"Hi." Marco grinned, his mind racing. "Didn't your husband tell you?"

"What?" She said. She looked a man who was lying snoring on a couch, a glass of eggnog in his hand.

"Thought the kids were still up." Marco smiled. "He hired me to be Santa."

More like an elf! Rachel cracked. Marco's smile twitched.

"Oh." The lady looked him up and down. She took the presents from him. "Well, thank you. You'll just be on your way."

"But it's ten dollars." Marco said, sticking out his hand.

Marco! Jake snapped.

"Thank you." Marco pocketed two fives and started to stand up.

BAM!

"ARGH!" A stream of profanities poured from Marco as a mountain bike hit him on the head.

"Oh!" The lady squealed, not hearing him. "You brought a mountain bike!"

She handed Marco another five dollars. "Thank you very much!"

Marco forced a pained smile and left. The lady closed the door behind him.

"AHHHHHH!" Marco bellowed into the night. "AXIMILLI- ESGAROUTH-ISTHILL!!!!"

I-I am sorry Marco. Ax apologized. I miscalculated. 

"DID IT NOT OCCUR TO YOU," Marco hollered, jumping up and down and clutching his head. "TO WAIT UNTIL I HAD MOVED!?!?"

Quiet, Marco. Jake said, landing next to Marco. The whole neighborhood can here you. 

"Let them hear!" Marco snarled, climbing in. "I was just hit on the head with a mountain bike! Does that _mean _nothing to you? Do you not _care_?"

Cut the drama. Rachel said. Marco grumbled as they flew off.


	8. Chapter 8

**December 25, 1:00 AM**

(My turn at last!) Ax said.

"We are not going to make it." Jake groaned. They had finished three towns. Erek had said they were 0.027 done.

(We will!) Ax said firmly. (For every scientist who didn't trust with out question! For every Andalite child who cast away the shaky support of their childish dreams and stood upon the solid ground of sweet logic. For everybody, Human and Andalite, Hork-Bajir and Chee, that refused to believe.)

"Whoa. Deep." Marco said, sliding over so that he would load the sleigh. "No more, um, er - Where did you get that from?"

(From myself.) Ax said. (It came from my heart.)

"And where'd you get _that_ from?" Marco snorted.

(_The young and the restless._) Ax said, grabbing a package. He leapt down the chimney.

(Ahhh.) He groaned, squeezing his Andalite body through the fireplace.

He emerged into the living room. There were two cookies and a glass of milk on a table near the stairs.

(Oh yes!) Ax crowed. He quickly morphed to human and grabbed a cookie.

"Hey!" A man yelled. He was standing on the stairs, and had his hand on the same cookie. "What the #$ are you doing in my house?"

Ax glared at him. "This card says these cookies are for Santa." He said hostilely. "Are you Santa Claus? I don't think so. Since I am substituting for Santa at the moment, I believe that entitles me to his share of cookies as well."

"Listen, punk." The man said aggressively, dropping the cookie and heading for the closet. "Get outta my house now!"

Ax ignored him and finished off the cookies. He started gulping down the milk.

Click. The man was pointing a gun at Ax.

"Such violence is unnecessary!" Ax exclaimed. "I just want to put these presents under your tree."

"What is it?" The man snarled. "A bomb? Drugs? Get out of my house, you sicko!"

"I merely wish to spread Christmas joy." Ax said. He put the presents under the tree. "I am not like Troy from _New School Blues_. He had serious gun problems. He was criminally insane. Hey! Are you criminally insane?"

"GRRR!" The man yelled. He pulled the trigger.

"You ARE criminally insane!" Ax screamed. "AHH!"

(Ax!) Tobias yelled. Ax kept screaming.

"Huh?" Ax looked up. The man's face was a frozen mask of anger, his finger unmoving from it's tight position around the trigger.

Ax squinted. The bullet was frozen in midair, a centimeter from his face.

(Wow.) Ax whispered. He touched the bullet, and quickly yanked his hand back.

HELLO.

(I should have known.) Ax said, sliding smartly out of the path of the bullet.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING YEERKS, NOT PLAYING SANTA CLAUS. YOU WERE ALMOST KILLED.

(We are doing a service for Donner.) Ax said. (It was his last request.)

I DO NOT APPROVE.

"Well Boo Hoo Hoo." Marco said sarcastically from somewhere above. There was a smacking noise.

(We promised.) Ax said.

I AM SORRY. YOU COULD DIE. YOU WOULD HAVE DIED. I DO NOT APPROVE.

Instantly they were all back home, in bed.

"NO!" Rachel bellowed. "WHAT THE $& IS THAT GUY'S PROBLEM?"

"Wha- Hi, Rachel." Sara said guiltily. She pulled her head from under the bed and smiled her sweetest smile. "When did you get home?"

Rachel gave Sara a suspicious look. "What were you doing under my bed?" She asked.

"Looking for my Barbie?" Sara smiled.

Rachel shook her head.

"Dusting?" Sara asked hopefully.

Rachel shook her head. "You were looking for your presents, weren't you?"

"Noo!" Sara said loudly. "I mean, maybe. I mean- yes."

Rachel rolled her eyes and pushed Sara lightly out of the room.

"Go bother Jordan for a little way, ok?"

Sara hurried away down the hall.

"Argh!" Rachel wrung and invisible neck. "I hate Ellimist."

WHY? Ellimist's old man disguise appeared.

"You!" Rachel yelled. "You stupid little meddling nitwit!"

EXCUSE ME? The Ellimist swelled to twice his height. The air rippled.

"Um." Rachel gulped. "Nothing, sir."

"Rachel?" Sara poked her head in the doorway. "Who are you yelling at?"

Rachel glared at the Ellimist. "You didn't freeze time?"

I DID! Ellimist yelled. He looked at Sara. OOPS. I MUST HAVE MISSED HER.

Rachel shook her head. "Would you just freeze her?"

TIME IS ALREADY FROZEN. Ellimist sighed. A TIME FREEZE WITHIN A TIME FREEZE IS IMPOSSIBLE.

"Ooooooh!" Sara yelled. "Mommy! Rachel let a freaky man in the house!"

Rachel leapt forward and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shut up and I'll give you your presents early."

"Rachel?" Jordan stuck her head in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. "Rachel, wake up. You having another -"

Jordan stopped when she saw the Ellimist. "Maybe I'm the one having the nightmare." She gulped.

Rachel glared at the Ellimist. Then she heard loud snoring from Naomi's room.

WOOPS. I MUST HAVE MISSED THEM TOO. Ellimist chuckled nervously. MUST BE SLIPPING UP.

"Jordan! Jordan, look!" Sara said. "Rachel let this freaky guy into the house!"

Jordan rubbed her eyes again. "I need to go back to sleep."

"Let's get her in trouble!" Sara said, jumping up and down.

"No." Rachel snapped. She grabbed Sara. "Be quiet or I'll break all of your Christmas toys!"

Sara shut up.

"Good." Rachel grabbed the phone and dialed Jake's house. Jake picked up immediately.

"What the & is going on?" Jake hissed. "I was just getting chewed out by my mom when she froze in mid-yell."

"Ellimist froze time." Rachel said. "Except Ellimist missed my family!"

"Ookay." Jake said slowly.

"Everybody in my house is moving around when they're supposed to be frozen!" Rachel said.

"Oh." Jake said. "Well, I'll take this opportunity to sneak out of the house. Meet at that last house we were at before Ellimist teleported us back home. That's were the sleigh is going to be. I'll tell the others."

Jake hung up before Rachel could say anything else.

HEY! Ellimist snarled. Rachel turned around to see Sara poking the Ellimist.

"Stop it!" Rachel yelled. She picked up Sara and put her on Jordan's lap. Jordan had been staring at Ellimist from the safety of Rachel's bed.

"Don't touch the Ellimist, don't bother the Ellimist, don't even _look _at the Ellimist." Rachel commanded. "He could kill you with a snap of his fingers, so don't make him mad. Got it?"

"Ellimist? What a weird name." Sara laughed. Rachel grabbed her.

"Add, 'don't make fun of the Ellimist' to that list." Rachel snapped. "He'll be leaving in a little while, but while he is here, do exactly what I tell you."

_Bring! _The phone rang. Rachel snatched it up, keeping her eye on Sara and Jordan.

"What?" Rachel snapped.

"Chill, Xena, It's me." Marco said. "Jake just called, and told me Ellimist had frozen time. I mean, tell a guy next time, huh? I thought my dad had stopped breathing."

"Did you call just to annoy me?" Rachel sighed.

"Yup." Marco said. "And to tell you to not let Ellimist leave. I just thought of something."

"What now?" Rachel said.

"Time is frozen!" Marco said excitedly. He lowered his voice. "We can deliver toys while time is frozen! We just have to trick the Ellimist into keeping time frozen."

"Marco, that is the stupid plan I have ever heard!" Rachel growled. "Who did you plan on having distract Ellimist, Anyway?"

Marco told her.


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, I know this sounds crazy." Rachel said for the thirteenth time. They were in Naomi's room, Naomi sitting up in bed with Sara on her lap, and Jordan sitting next to them.

"Santa Claus. Reindeer. Magic." Jordan said, in her talking-to-crazy-people voice. "Right."

"Rachel, are you alright?" Naomi asked. "Are you getting enough attention?"

"Can I come to the north pole with you?" Sara said, the only one who believed her. "I _promise _I won't touch anything."

"Fine." Rachel said impatiently. "I'll make you believe me."

She opened the window and stuck her head out. "Get your behinds over here!" She yelled. Four reindeer dropped from the sky and landed on the roof, the sleigh behind them. Ax sat inside of it, munching on a cookie.

"Sorry we are not on time." Ax said. "Prince Jake decided we should make a few deliveries on the way here."

He popped the rest of the cookie into his mouth. "Oatmeal." He swallowed. "My favorite."

Naomi's jaw dropped. Jordan stared. Sara leapt out of Naomi's grasp and raced over to the window

"Where are the other reindeer?" Sara asked, patting Tobias on the nose.

"We don't need them." Marco laughed. "See, Santa's so fat he needs eight of us to pull him. Ax here only needs four."

"Whoa." Jordan said. She and Naomi walked over to the window.

"I'm dreaming." Naomi said. She reached out and touched Jake's antler.

"How the-" Jordan began, then glanced at Naomi. "I mean, How in the world did this happen?"

"I've been telling you for the last ten minutes." Rachel grumbled.

"Cool." Sara said. She peeked in the back of the sleigh. "What did you bring me?"

"We'll be back with your presents in a few hours." Rachel said, climbing through the window. She sat down and looked at her family. "We're counting on you."

They all nodded solemnly. "By the way," Rachel yelled as the sleigh began to pull away. "Can I be ungrounded? For saving Christmas and all?"

"Not a chance." Naomi said firmly, and closed the window.

**December 25, time frozen**

"Ax, would you _fly_?" Rachel snarled.

"I am trying!" Ax said irritably. He was dangling behind the others, kicking and flailing in a futile attempt to fly.

"We said 'on Ax' about fifty times." Jake sighed. "And we even said 'on Aximilli-Esgarouth-Isthill' a few times. What is the _matter_, Ax?"

"Maybe it is because the reindeer body was not even designed for flight!" Ax snapped. "No aerodynamics, far too much body weight, no way to reduce drag and increase lift whatsoever-"

"That's enough!" Jake said aloud. Then he thought spoke privately to Ax. (Look, Ax-man, if you keep talking like that, you'll never fly. Just let the reindeer mind take over and let the magic happen.)

Ax started grumbling.

"Chill out, guys. This is more like it!" Marco said, putting his feet up. "Man, it's nice to be back in my own body."

(You said it.) Tobias said. He was perched on the back of the sleigh as it glided over frozen streets. He pecked the green radio button. (Okay Greg, These kids want a few math books, a scientific calculator, a ruler, and a protractor.)

"Nerds." Marco sneered disgustedly.

(Um, Greg?) Tobias said after a few moments of inactivity from the teleporter. (Did you hear me?)

Realization suddenly struck them all.

"$&!" Marco swore, banging the front of the sled. "$&!$&!$&!"

(I believe that Marco is expressing his unhappiness at the fact that the Chee are frozen along with the rest of the world.) Ax said. (Or he wishes us to pull over so that he may go to the bathroom. I am not sure which.)

"Ok." Jake said. "Ok. Um, we need somebody to load the sleigh."

**_I CAN HELP WITH THAT._ **A voice cackled. Cryak appeared, floating in front of them, a hateful expression upon his face.

"We don't need your type of help." Marco snapped.

**_AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR YOU. _**Cryak sneered in a mock hurt tone. **_I'LL UNFREEZE THOSE CHEE OF YOURS, AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE._**

"What other people?" Rachel asked suspiciously.

**_SOME OTHER PEOPLE. YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW. _**Cryak said mysteriously. **_ACCEPT MY OFFER OR DON'T._**

"We-" Jake started.

"Accept." Cassie said.

**_EXCELLENT. _**Cryak said. **_I'LL GO NOW SO THAT YOU CAN YELL AT CASSIE._**

Cryak disappeared.

"CASSIE!" Jake bellowed. "WHAT THE & WERE YOU THNKING?"

Cassie smiled. "I tricked him!" She grinned. "See, he thought we were going to say no. Only a complete moron is dumb enough to say yes to that offer. So I fooled him by saying yes!"

Everyone waited for Cassie to realize what she just said.

"Oh." Cassie's grin faded. "Hmm. There's something wrong with that logic, isn't there?"

Marco nodded, a sour expression on his face. "You think?"

"Hey guys. What's next?" Greg's voice came over the radio, interrupting Cassie's answer. Marco slowly picked it up.

"Calculator. Ruler. Protractor." He growled.

"What's your problem?" Greg asked. Marco grunted and turned off the radio.

"Here Tobias." Marco sighed as the items came over. He hefted them onto the seat, and Tobias grabbed them in his talons.

Tobias hopped across the roof, glared at Cassie one more time, and floated down the chimney.


	10. Chapter 10

I DO NOT WANT ANYMORE COOKIES.

"Thank god." Naomi sighed, slumping against the counter. The poor oven coughed out another cloud of smoke. Because the Berensons ate a lot of takeout, It was hardly used all year. And now they had suddenly decided to make it turn out batch after batch of chocolate chip cookies. If an oven could be indignant, this one probably would be.

SOME LEMONADE WOULD HIT THE SPOT RIGHT NOW.

"Sorry, we don't have lemons." Jordan said wearily.

THAT IS NOT A PROBLEM. Ellimist said, waving his hand. The fridge filled with lemons.

"Lemonade it is." Naomi grimaced, and got out a pitcher.

"Wheee!" Sara came running down the steps. It was way past her bedtime, or would be if time was moving. She had a sheets of paper and some paints. "Want to color, Ellimist?"

SURE. Ellimist took a paintbrush and swiped at a paper a few times.

LOOK. He said proudly. He held up a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa. CAN I HANG THIS ON YOUR FRIDGE?

"Um," Naomi said in amazement. "Sure."

Ellimist made

Ellimist hung it up on the fridge and started working on another painting. A few moments later, the fridge was covered with famous paintings, including a finger-painting of _American Gothic_, and a watercolor of T_he Scream_.

THIS IS BORING. Ellimist sighed. He pointed the paintbrush at Jordan.

"Hey!" She cried, as her hair turned black.

HEHE. The Ellimist laughed, and pointed at Sara. Sara's skin turned blue.

"What are you doing?" Naomi said angrily. "Leave my daughters alone!"

FINE. Ellimist pointed at Naomi and turned her into a Hork-Bajir.

"AHH!" They all screamed. Ellimist turned Jordan into an Andalite.

_THIS _IS FUN! Ellimist said, and turned Sara into a Leeran.

"Cool!" Sara said. "I know where you two hid my presents!"

OOPS. Ellimist said. He didn't want to ruin Christmas. He turned Sara into a gold fish.

"Ah!" Naomi cried, and scooped a flopping Sara off the ground. She dropped her into the lemonade.

Ellimist turned Sara back into a girl. The pitcher burst all over the floor.

"Aww." Sara grumbled. "I forgot."

(Can you please turn us back?) Jordan asked, accidentally knocking a vase of flowers onto the floor with her tail.

BUT THIS IS FUN! Ellimist cheered. He changed Jordan into a Helmacron.

"Please?" Naomi pleaded, stooping so that her head blades didn't tear a hole in the ceiling.

_FINE_. Ellimist sighed. He turned them back into humans. I GUESS I'LL BE ON MY WAY. THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

Time resumed.

Jordan, Naomi and Sara looked at each other in alarm.

"Wait." Naomi mumbled grumpily after a few minutes. "You can keep playing.

Time froze again.

YAH! Ellimist cheered, and picked up the paintbrush. He started changing the colors of everything. WHERE'S THAT LEMONADE?

Naomi glared at Ellimist, and started on a new pitcher of lemonade.

_Bring! Bring!_

Naomi's phone rang. Everyone froze.

_Bring! Bring!_

Naomi's hand twitched. Jordan and Sara gave her hard looks.

"Must - Restrain-" Naomi said, sweat pouring down her face. "I can't do it!"

She snatched up the phone, ignoring her daughters' disappointed looks.

"Dr. Ode?" Naomi said. "I've never heard of you. Well, I'll help you file your lawsuit. Full name please. Dr. Ode is your full name?"

Ellimist sighed. I'M BORED AGAIN.

"Want to play barbies?" Sara asked. Jordan slapped her head.

BARBIES? Ellimist said slowly, eye's widening.


	11. Chapter 11

**December 25, meanwhile...**

Tobias swooped into the living room. There was two boys, sitting around the tree, ripping open their packages. A mother and father were sitting on the couch, smiling.

(Damn!) Tobias swore. (Some family got up early. What do I do?)

(Why not just drop the package on the opposite side of the tree?) Jake said. (Then they'll think they just missed them.)

Tobias gave a sigh of relief. (Yeah. That'll work.)

He swooped around the tree and dropped the package. He was about to flap out again, when a terrible thing happened.

A boy laughed.

(Ahh!) Tobias flared just before emerging from behind the tree. (They're moving! What are they doing moving?!?)

(I don't know!) Jake said frantically. (Ellimist must have unfroze time!)

(They're coming around the tree!) Tobias yelled.

(Come on.) Rachel called silently to her mom and her sisters. (_Come on_.)

(I'm circling the tree!) Tobias said. (But I can't go all the way around or the parents will see me!)

The boys crawled closer. One boy looked up at Tobias and his eyes widened.

He just sat there, staring at Tobias. Tobias stared back, unmoving. Slowly, Tobias realized that the boy hadn't moved for a full minute.

(Yes!) Tobias yelled. (Time is frozen, and I am hauling butt outta here!)

He flapped up the chimney and landed in the sleigh.

(That was close.) Cassie said. Everyone ignored her; they still weren't speaking to her.

(Switch up.) Jake said. Everyone who was a reindeer demorphed, to reset the two-hour limit, in case it still applied while time was frozen. They all quickly remorphed, except Jake. (Marco, you take a shift as a reindeer. I'll load the sleigh. Tobias, we can't have time unfreezing all the time. Go check up on the Ellimist.)

Tobias obediently flapped off into the night.

Jake climbed into the sleigh just as the roof blew up. **A/N: Bet that woke you up**

"What the hell!" Jake cursed, grabbing on tightly onto the reins. "ON DOONER! ON!"

The sleigh stopped falling just before it landed on the family. Unfortunately, the roof debris didn't.

"Ahhh." Rachel said sadly, looking down at the family buried under rubble. The father's head poked above it, frozen into a laughing expression. "That's horrible!"

"Oh my god!" Cassie screamed. "Look up!"

They all snapped their heads up. Two bug fighters hovered above them sinisterly, dracon cannons smoking.

"Where'd they come from?" Cassie cried. "Why aren't they frozen?"

Everyone glared at her.

"On Cassie, On Rachel, On Marco!" Jake yelled. He grabbed the reins and yanked them to the left. The sleigh barely avoided the next dracon fire.

"Ax, demorph!" Jake snapped out orders. "You're just slowing us down. Get to harrier. Everyone else, do exactly as I say."

(AH!) Ax yelled, as his neck grew more slender. The collar loosened, and he dangled precariously from the rope.

"Damn!" Jake cursed again. "Hang on, Ax. Every one else, haul butt!"

The sleigh rocketed through the air, narrowly missing dracon beams. They were headed back the way they came.

(I am slipping!) Ax cried, making choking noises as the collar slipped higher and higher. Jake dove forward and grabbed Ax's back leg.

"Morph!" Jake grunted, holding on to both the sleigh and Ax as tightly as he could. "Hurry!"

"Ahh!" Rachel cried. A large burn had appeared on her front leg.

"$&#$&#$!" Jake bellowed, as the sleigh flipped upside down. One of the fighters had shot a stabilizer.

Jake grabbed onto Marco's leg. Marco snorted hard.

SWISH! A bug fighter flew next to the sleigh. Jake could make out the sneering face of a human controller.

"Oomph!" Jake groaned, and swung the shifting Ax on top of the sleigh. Marco kicked his leg and flipped Jake up.

"Hang Right! Turn into the alley way." Jake bellowed. They swooped down and shot through an alleyway. Sideways. The bug fighter twisted sharply, but too slowly. It slammed into the sides of the alley, tearing into the buildings, ripping the skin of it's armor. It exploded.

The sleigh went flying forwards, propelled by the explosion

"THIS!" Marco yelled as he slammed into a row trashcans. "IS INSANE!"

(We've lost the bug fighters.) Ax said, now fully harrier.

They all slammed into the ground in a pile of burnt reindeer, singed feathers, Jake, and sleigh parts.

"Everyone ok?" Jake asked.

"We'll be fine." Marco grunted, focusing on his human body. Pretty soon there were four humans and an Andalite standing around a sleigh wreck.

"We'll never rebuild this thing." Cassie moaned.

(I believe that there are all the parts that I require right here.) Ax said, motioning to the scattered bug fighter parts. (It will take me quite a while, though.)

Jake sat down on an over turned trashcan and sighed. "Do it."


	12. Chapter 12

**December 25, time frozen**

WELL IF LAWYER BARBIE IS TAKING THE STETHESCOPE, DOCTOR BARBIE IS TAKING LAWYER BARBIE'S PAPERS.

"Uh-uh!" Sara argued. "Lawyer Barbie is all the way over here!"

Ellimist was actually enjoying playing barbies. That was more than can be said for Jordan.

"Well police barbie is arresting doctor barbie and lawyer barbie and throwing them into jail for no good reason at all." Jordan said, a bored expression on her face. She picked up doctor barbie and lawyer barbie and put them inside of a plastic crate.

"Lawyer barbie sues Police Barbie." Sara said. "She and doctor barbie get out of jail, and police barbie goes in."

Jordan sighed and stuck police barbie in jail.

"Did you go to court? Did you sign the papers? Did you file a lawsuit?" Naomi asked. "Sorry, but police barbie doesn't go to jail until proven guilty. No, No, not you Dr. Ode."

Tap! Tap! Somebody was tapping on the window.

Jordan got up and opened the curtains a crack. There was a hawk banging on the window with it's beak.

"_What_?" Jordan said.

(Open the window!) Tobias said. (I can't hover here forever!)

Jordan sighed when she realized she was hearing the voice in her head. "Why am I not surprised?" She said, and opened the window.

(Just wanted to know why time unfroze just when I'm trying to get out of a house.) Tobias said. (Just out curiosity, I'm not mad or anything, because it was really fun almost having a heart attack!)

"Well, Sor-ry!" Jordan said sarcastically. "First Ellimist was turning us different colors, and then he turned us into aliens, and we asked him to stop. He left for a second, because he was grumpy. Time was unfrozen for a little bit, until we called him back and said he could change us. And now we're playing barbies."

(Okay. That's why your hair's green.) Tobias nodded. (Oddly enough, I understood that. Just please don't let it happen again.)

He was about to fly back out the window when Naomi yelled, "Dr. Ode, please! I need to know exactly what you are suing for!"

(Did you say Dr. Ode?) Tobias said, looking at Naomi strangely.

"Yes." Naomi said slowly. "What's wrong?"

(Oh, man.) Tobias shook his head. (Sheesh. Bad guys need to be more imaginative. First Mr. Visser, Now Dr. Ode. I know we didn't tell you about this person, but that's Cryak's cronie on the other end of the line. Hang up.)

"But-" Naomi said.

(He's just distracting you.) Tobias said. (Hang up.)

Sara pressed down on the two hang up buttons on the phone base. "Sorry, Mommy."

Naomi spluttered and squoze the phone tightly.

IS ANYBODY GOING TO PLAY WITH ME? Ellimist asked sadly.

"Do we have to play barbies?" Jordan sighed.

NO. IT WAS GETTING BORING ANYWAY.

"Thank goodness." Jordan said, throwing police barbie across the room.

WHAT ELSE CAN WE PLAY?

"Hmm." Sara checked the game shelf. "We already played every game we have."

I'LL BE GOING THEN.

"Don't you want to turn us into more aliens?" Sara asked.

I TURNED YOU ALL INTO EVERY LIFEFORM I KNOW OF.

"Hopscotch? Jacks? Jump rope?" Jordan dug through her closet.

WE PLAYED THOSE.

Tobias looked at them fiercely. Sara shrugged her shoulders helplessly. Suddenly Naomi stormed past, fuming.

"I'll be fired!" She yelled. "I'll be demoted, at the very least!"

WHY? Ellimist asked interestedly.

"Well lawyers aren't supposed to just hang up on their clients!" Naomi said, looking accusingly at Sara.

DID YOU SAY LAWYER? Ellimist said. I'M IN NEED OF SOME LEGAL ADVICE.


	13. Chapter 13

(Finished.) Ax said. He stood triumphantly in front of a burnt, twisted, hacked together sleigh.

"Is it safe?" Rachel asked, walking appraisingly around it.

(As safe as I could make it under the circumstances.) Ax said.

Jake jumped up and down on it. It shook alarmingly, but held together.

"Fine." Jake sighed. "Ax, you control the sleigh, since you can't fly. Everybody else, reindeer."

Ax tied them onto the sleigh after they were morphed, and soon they were on their way again.

"Does the radio work?" Marco asked.

(Marco!) Ax said in an offended voice. (I believe that I can construct a simple human _radio_!)

"Okay then." Jake said. "Ask the Chee what house is next."

Ax turned on the radio. (We need the toys for the next house.)

Greg's voice came out mingled with static. "Thank goodness! We heard the explosions and thought you didn't make it!"

"Yeah, well we're pretty hard to kill." Jake said with a grin. "We're finally on the move again. What's next?"

"78 Elm road." Greg said. "This person is on the nice list, but didn't ask for anything."

"Just give them a doll or action figure." Marco shivered. "I'm freezing, all you people with warm fur and feathers. In case you care."

Ax grabbed a doll and slid painfully down the chimney. (Huh?)

The room was bare. (Where is the tree? Where are the decorations?)

He ran into the dining room and looked around. (Prince Jake! There is no tree!)

(What do you mean, no tree?) Jake demanded. (What kind of family doesn't put up a tree?)

(Maybe they celebrate Kwanza.) Marco said.

(There are no decorations at all!) Ax cried. (The house is obviously inhabited. What is the matter?)

(Oh no.) Rachel groaned. (I didn't recognize the address at first. I know who lives here.)

Ax ran up the steps and checked the rooms. There were two people in the master bedroom, sleeping peacefully.

(I believe that it is Chapman!) Ax said, peering closely at the male. Balding head, pointy nose. Chapman. (It is!)

(Aw, Man.) Marco said sadly. (They forgot Christmas? Yeerks make the worse parents in history.)

(Put the doll on her bed and get out.) Jake said sternly. (We don't want controllers seeing an Andalite running around their house.)

(No.) Rachel said slowly. (I'm so sick of this crap.)

(No what?) Jake said.

(No, as in I'm not going to let this happen.) Rachel said. (We are going to put up decorations, we are going to put up a tree, And we are going to give Melissa a happy Christmas.)

(Rachel-) Jake began.

(I'm with her.) Marco said, surprising everybody. (I know that it's totally risky and stupid, but that in there is just wrong. No kid should have Christmas just forgotten.)

(I'm going to feel like the Grinch if I say no.) Jake sighed.

Rachel grinned. (Let's do it!)

"Ah!" Cassie yelped, hopping up and down and sucking her thumb.

"I told you to be careful!" Jake said, skillfully knocking in a nail. He hung a wreath from it. "That's the fifth time you hit yourself."

(Perhaps you should assist Marco and Rachel with the tree.) Ax suggested.

(Uh-uh!) Marco said. (Don't try to make us deal with her.)

(Yeah.) Rachel took a bite out of the tree trunk. (She'd probably just mess us up.)

They were both in beaver morph, trying to chew their way through a thick evergreen trunk.

(Hey, isn't this sort of like when couples drink from the same soda glass?) Marco said. (We're both eating from the same tree, Xena baby. Ahh!)

He yelled because Rachel had just bit into his tail.

Jake shook his head. "Okay, I think it's loose enough. Rachel-"

(Finally.) Rachel said, and started growing and shifting. She spat out Marco's tail.

(Is it time to trim the tree?) Ax asked eagerly.

"Yeah, just about." Jake said. "Thanks for donating your decorations."

Ax had brought the decorations that he was going to use for his scoop earlier. (It is nothing, Prince Jake.)

"HARRUUH!" Came a loud cry from outside.

CRUNCH!

Jake looked outside and saw an elephant knock the evergreen tree over.

(Aww.) Marco, now gorilla, said in mock disappointment. (I didn't get to say timber!)

"Bring it in!" Jake said. Rachel rammed her trunks underneath the tree, and with an effort lifted it off the ground.

(Clear!) Rachel said, and pushed the tree inside. Marco ran in behind it.

(And now, I, Marco the magnificent, will attempt to lift this tree... With one hand!) Marco said. He grabbed the tree with one arm and stood it up. (And he does it! The audience goes wild!)

"Stop showing off." Cassie said, and started decorating the tree.

Everyone began hanging decorations off the tree. Pretty soon it was complete, except for the star.

(May I, Prince Jake? Like in the movie _A_ _Christmas story_?) Ax said eagerly. He had the star and a bunch of lights.

"I am totally going to turn off your TV." Marco muttered.

"Will the tree light up when time is frozen?" Rachel wondered.

Ax started connecting the lights and wires. (We will soon find out.)


	14. Chapter 14

"So, you see, Cryak is breaking those four hundred and twenty two laws." Naomi said. "You can sue him over clause AZD-97, SD-09, LK-56, and GH-23."

GREAT. Ellimist said.

"But..." Naomi said. "You also violated law number 56, 83, 12, and 65. So just avoid those, and sue him over the other four hundred and eighteen."

OH. Ellimist said, sipping his lemonade. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

"Well, that's all I can tell you." Naomi said, standing up. They had been discussing law for the around two hours.

THANK YOU. Ellimist said. BUT I'LL NEVER REMEMBER ALL OF THIS. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MY LAWYER?

"Um." Naomi shrugged. "I guess."

OK. Ellimist said. CRYAK!

"What?" Naomi said. "NOW?"

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT. Ellimist said. Cryak appeared, eyes narrowed.

**WHAT IS IT, ELLIMIST? **Cryak snarled.

I'M SUING YOU! Ellimist said. GET READY.

**OK. **Cryak snapped. **WHO'S THE JUDGE?**

Ellimist looked around. UMM-

He pointed at Jordan. HOW ABOUT HER?

**FINE. **Cryak said, ignoring Jordan's spluttering. **DRODE IS MY LAWYER!**

WE'LL NEED A JURY OF SIX. Ellimist said.

**I HAVE A FEW PEOPLE WHO ARE UNFROZEN. **Cryak smirked. He waved his hand and Visser Three appeared in the living room.

Two surprised controllers stood next to him.

HMM. Ellimist thought. GOT IT!

He pointed at Sara, and Erek and Mr. King appeared next to her.

**LET'S FIX THIS DUMP UP. **Cryak said. He clapped his hands, and the living room rearranged itself into a court room. The carpet turned into hard wood floor, The sofa slid against the wall and morphed into a wooden bench. The table shot in from the dining room and transformed into the judge's stand. Two chairs landed next to them.

"Oomph!" Cryak pointed at Jordan, and she thumped down onto the judge's stand.

(OW!) Visser three hissed after receiving similar treatment from Ellimist. Everyone else who was standing up hurried to sit down.

THAT'S EREK AND MR.KING, THE PACIFIST ADNRDOIDS. Ellimist said THAT'S BEN AND JOE, TWO ANONYMOUS CONTROLLERS. AND THAT'S VISSER THREE, THE LEADER OF THE YEERK INASION.

**OK, NOW THAT EVERYONE'S BEEN INTRODUCED, LET'S START. **Cryak snarled.

Cryak and Ellimist looked at Jordan.

"Um, Er-" Jordan faltered.

Naomi leaned over and whispered some words in her ear.

"Let this court session begin." Jordan said. She pointed at Naomi. "State your client's case, mom."

Naomi snapped into lawyer mode. "Okay. Mr. Ellimist, my client, is suing Cryak under the laws of their arcane game. Let's start with Law Alpha-A: Cryak and Ellimist may under no circumstances attack, threaten, kick, nuke or in any other way cause harm any other omnipotent beings. Apparently any prolonged activity of the afore said kind will initiate the destruction of the space-time continuum, and all life within it will be totally obliterated."

Naomi paused a moment for everybody to comprehend that before continuing.

"A few days ago, Ellimist woke up at 8: 54, earth time. He had been knocked out, so that Cryak could do something without Ellimist noticing. He didn't know who had done it, but assumed it was Cryak, because only Cryak can reach the realm in which Ellimist and Cryak dwell. That alone can have Cryak banned from the galaxy."

**OBJECTION! **Cryak bellowed. **OBJECTION!**

"We barely started!" Erek snapped, looking at Jordan.

"Say 'Overruled'," Naomi whispered to Jordan.

Jordan looked at the peaceful android sitting across the room on the wooden bench, and the violent, omnipotent being sitting right next to her. She kept her mouth shut.

**I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH KNOCKING HIM OUT WITH THE BAT! **Cryak bellowed.

"Um, Ellimist never said it was with a bat." Sara pointed out. Joe nodded in agreement.

Cryak turned purple. **THAT'S NO PROOF!**

"I believe it is." Ben said. Cryak grabbed Ben by the neck, and Ben exploded into a million pieces. Everybody gasped in shock.

(HEY!) Visser Three bellowed, stretching up to his full height. (NOBODY KILLS MY UNDERLINGS EXCEPT FOR ME!)

Cryak reached slowly and menacingly for Visser three's neck.

(An-And you.) Visser three said with a very un-Visser like squeak. He scooted backwards.

"Order in the court! Order in the court!" Jordan hammered her gravel on the desk and grinned. "Always wanted to do that."

Cryak sat down angrily in his chair.

"How about we go to the scene of the crime?" Mr. King suggested. "Then we can see what happened."

VERY WELL. Ellimist said.

Suddenly the air started rippling. The room started spinning. Everything faded to black.


	15. Chapter 15

ZZZT!

Every light on the tree winked off, and all of the Animorphs groaned.

(Not _again!_) Ax growled. (I do not understand what is wrong! Human electricity is so primitive! How do you usually deal with faulty electronics?)

(Fuses. My uncle always had to fix the fuses when the TV conked out.) Tobias said.

"I think it's the circuit breakers. That's what's always wrong with our electricity." Jake said.

"Maybe the electricity is upset with us." Cassie said. "We should talk to it about it's feelings. Maybe it's feeling used."

"We usually just call an electrician." Rachel said, shrugging.

"Well this is what me and my dad always do." Marco said.

WHAM! Marco delivered a swift kick to the tree, and the lights winked back on.

(Why does this human method of repairing broken items always work?) Ax exclaimed. (Is this not illogical?)

"I'm getting a little tired of this 'illogical' stuff!" Marco said angrily, speaking for everyone. "It's not illogical if it works."

(We should be on our way.) Ax said, pointedly ignoring Marco.

Jake nodded. "Let's go."

Pretty soon they were flying through the air. Marco and Ax sat in the sleigh, Marco leaning back and smiling.

"Ah, that's my good deed for the year." Marco said. Then he sat up. "Hey, filling in for Santa has got to count as a good deed. I can goof off for the next two years!"

(Greg, How more do we have to go?) Ax asked.

"Yeah, well, while you were dodging bug fighters and decking the Chapman's' halls, we sort of did some deliveries." Greg said in a tired voice.

"Thanks." Jake said. "So how much more is left?"

"Guess." Greg said, sounding smug.

"None?" Marco yawned hopefully.

"Sorry. We did everywhere in the world except for a few houses in your town." Greg said. "We could have done more, except most of us were tired from the toy making."

"It's cool." Rachel said. "You saved use a lot of work. Which house next?"

"Cassie's." Greg whispered. "She asked for - Oh no."

"What?" Marco whispered.

"Peace on earth, No more poachers or hunters, and a stuffed rabbit." Greg said.

"Stuffed Rabbit." Marco said without missing a beat. "Gotcha."

He got an evil gleam in his eyes. "Does she mean the fabric and cotton kind, or the kind that are shot, and then stuffed and put on the mantle-"

"The fabric kind, Marco." Greg said tolerantly.

When they got to Cassie's house, Rachel distracted Cassie by pretending that there was a cute squirrel on the roof of her barn. Meanwhile, Ax snuck the doll down the chimney.

"The last building." Greg said, as they took off.

They all cheered wearily.

"Um, don't cheer just yet." Greg said. They floated lazily downtown, in search of their destination.

"Why not?" Marco sighed happily. "One more delivery and we're done."

(Oh no!) Tobias whispered. The smile dropped off of Marco's face. The Animorphs groaned as they came to the biggest apartment in California.

"Heh." Greg chuckled nervously. "I said one more _building_."

---

"Oh, come on." Joe said. They were in Ellimist's hyper dimensional bedroom, watching a scene from two centuries ago. Ellimist was sitting up in bed, and there was an ugly purple bruise on Ellimist's head. A bat lay next to him, and he was looking around suspiciously.

"Who else could have done it?" Mr. King said. "Everyone knows it was you, Cryak. It can't have been anybody else."

"Check the fingerprints on the bat." Naomi said wearily.

Ellimist got a shocked look on his face. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Cryak pointed confidently at Mr. King. Mr. King suddenly had a fingerprint kit in his hands.

**Go ahead. **Cryak smirked.

Mr. King sprinkled dust on the bat. He slowly peeled up the finger print.

"Thumb." He commanded. Cryak pressed his thumb in ink, and pressed it on a blank piece of paper.

Everybody crowded around it anxiously.

"It-It doesn't match." Mr. King stammered, scanning it twice. "It doesn't match."

Cryak grinned.

"Wait! Can't Cryak and Ellimist change their appearance?" Jordan asked. "Ellimist was sure as heck changing ours."

"Objection!" Drode snapped. "That is only possible in lower dimensions. My client is innocent!"

Cryak teleported them back to the court room/living room.

"Jury?" Jordan asked.

Sara, Joe, Visser three, and both Kings huddled closely and began whispering. After a moment, Joe started whispering louder. Visser started yelling at him. Joe yelled back, and got his head chopped off. They all turned around

"We have only one question." Mr. King asked. "Who knocked out Ellimist?"

"Hmm." Jordan said. "Good question. I call a recess to think about it."

Cryak, Drode, and Visser three stayed in the living room, and everybody else went to the kitchen.

"Who did it?" Erek wondered. Sara held detective barbie, thinking hard.

They all sat silently, lost in thought.

"Oh my god." Mr. King suddenly gasped, staring at the fridge. "I know who did it! But why?"

They were back in the courtroom. Mr. King sat on the witness stand, a grim expression on his face.

"Who did it, Mr. King?" Naomi asked.

"No, I can't say." Mr. King said.

**SAY OR THIS LITTLE GIRL DIES! **Cryak said, grabbing Sara.

"Well," Mr. King said slowly. "All of the evidence points to this person. There are only four people I can think of who had an opportunity to knock out Ellimist: Cryak, of course. Drode, maybe. And I recall that a powerful being chased Cryak out of a different galaxy before he came here."

"Who else?" Jordan asked.

Mr. King struggled with himself. Cryak made a violent gesture over Sara's head.

"Ellimist himself." Mr. King nodded sadly. Everybody looked at Ellimist in amazement. Ellimist started to sweat.

I DIDN'T DO IT! Ellimist blurted.

"Here's a solid piece of evidence: His fingerprints." Mr. King said, holding up Ellimist's finger painting of _American Gothic_ that was hanging on the fridge. "I recognized the fingerprint."

**HA! **Cryak yelled triumphantly. **DRODE?**

Drode smirked and picked up a law book. "Law Gamma-G: If an omnipotent being tries to frame another omnipotent being, he or she loses the galaxy."

#$# YOU MR KING! Ellimist yelled, as Drode dragged him away to oblivion. #$$ YOU TO $!

**HAHAHAHA! **Cryak laughed evilly. **WITH ELLIMIST GONE, ME AND THE ANIMORPHS ARE GOING TO HAVE A $(& OF A TIME!**

"You don't want cookies, do you?" Naomi asked without hope.

Sara bit her lip as time resumed.

"Sorry, Rachel." Jordan muttered, looking down.


	16. Chapter 16

Jake jiggled the doorknob of the apartment. "Locked. Let's go to the next one."

"Not a problem." Marco said. He pulled out his library card.

"Marco!" Jake snapped. Marco jiggled the card in the crack hard.

"I got this!" Marco said. He yanked the card upwards, and there was a satisfying click. "Who's the man?"

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Jake hissed as they crept into the apartment.

"You live, you learn." Marco said. Suddenly, a loud alarm rang through the building. "At least some people do."

Marco tossed the present under the tree. "Tobias!"

"Oops." Tobias winced, tapping hard at the ATT keypad.

Marco rolled his eyes and typed in a number. The alarm went off. "We told you to go with Rachel. At least she knows how to pick a lock."

"Yeah." Jake sighed. "I don't know where you two learn these things."

"Don't you read?" Rachel said from down the hall, skillfully wiggling her hair pin in the lock of an apartment. The door swung open. "Or watch TV?"

"Yeah, well, while you two were reading _Nancy Drew _and _The Hardy Boys_, We were reading our English assignments." Jake huffed. "I bet that's why you got that D last year, Marco."

"Oh, stop being all jealous." Marco smirked. "Maybe one day I'll teach you the tricks of the trade."

They climbed on the elevator and went to the last, highest floor.

"Okay." Jake sighed. "We're almost done. Let's just-"

Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning flashed outside of the window. The sky turned black, and dark gray clouds rolled across the sky. A deep rumble of thunder shook the floor.

"What the &?" Jake said.

(AHHH!) Ax yelled, and came flying up the stairs. Two Hork-Bajir were chasing him.

"Ahhh!" Cassie screamed, right behind him.

"&$$!" Jake swore. "What happened?"

**I HAPPENED.**

"Oh, (&!" Jake swore again. "What the &$ is Cryak doing here?"

**ELLIMIST TRIED TO FRAME ME FOR HITTING HIM OVER THE HEAD WITH A BAT, BUT MR KING BUSTED HIM. SO NOW I RULE THE GALAXY! BUT DON'T WORRY. I'M JUST HERE TO HELP. **Cryak grinned. **THE YEERKS, THAT IS!**

Suddenly, an army of blue band Hork-Bajir were charging at them up the stairs.

"&!" Jake swore yet again. "RUN!"

They all charged down the hallway, a mob of slashing blades inches from their heels.

**OH NO! **Cryak gasped in mock surprise. **TIME IS UNFROZEN!**

Doorways began opening, and people stuck their heads out. They immediately lost them. Jake raced to the elevator and jabbed the down button. Nothing happened.

**AWW! **Cryak poked his lip out. **THE ELEVATOR IS OUT OF ORDER!**

"The stairs!" Jake said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the staircase dissolved into a solid wall.

"We have to stop and fight!" Rachel panted. "We can't run much longer!"

They all collapsed against the wall at the end of the hallway. The Army of Hork-Bajir froze, inches away from them.

**GIVE UP, JAKE. **Cryak snarled.

Jake stuck his middle finger up at Cryak and jumped out the window.

Cryak blinked in surprise. He was so surprised, that Tobias managed to drag Cassie out of the window before he turned it into a steel wall.

Ax and Rachel looked at each other, and raced away in opposite directions. Marco ran after Rachel, Hork-Bajir on his tail.

"Where are we going?" Marco panted, pushing himself forward.

"There!" Rachel gasped, pointing to an ajar door. Rachel slammed through it, racing for the window.

She dove for it, and slammed into a steel wall.

"GRR!" Rachel growled in pain. She spun around, facing the billion Hork-Bajir in the doorway. It was the ultimate War Time.

Marco stood next to her, shaking slightly. "We're going to die."

"No we're not." Rachel said, as the Hork-Bajir advanced towards them. The floor started creaking.

Marco's eyes got an inch bigger. "When I say so, grab that chandler." He muttered.

"Why?" Rachel whispered. More Hork-Bajir advanced into the room.

"NOW!" Marco yelled. They both leapt for the diamond Chandelier.

CRACK! Just as Marco anticipated, the apartment floor cracked under the weight of the Hork-Bajir.

"GRAAARR!" Their cries echoed as they tumbled sixty-stories down.

"Hah!" Rachel yelled, grabbing onto the chandelier.

"NOO!" Marco yelled, scrabbling at the edge of it. He missed, and grabbed Rachel's foot. Rachel winced as his fingernails dug into her bare foot.

"Cut your fingernails some time." Rachel growled, swinging slowly back and forth over a sixty-story drop.

"Yeah, well your toenails aren't so hot either." Marco retorted. "And man, the smell-"

"What do we do now?" Rachel interrupted.

"Just hang tight, and hope an Animorph gets to us before Cryak." Marco said.

------

"That was too close!" Jake said, who had morphed a reindeer just before hitting the ground.

(Yeah!) Tobias agreed, flapping his hawk wings hard to gain some altitude.

(Ahh!) A thought speak cry came into their heads.

(What?) Tobias said. (Cassie, what's wrong?)

(I'm falling!) Cassie screamed.

"You're in morph!" Jake yelled. "Why are you falling?"

(Well, I morphed squirrel! It was all I could think of!) Cassie screamed.

(What? Why?) Tobias looked down and saw a tumbling gray speck. (I'm coming Cassie!)

Tseer! Tobias dove at top speed towards the ground. Faster, Faster!

He grabbed Cassie's tail in his beak and spread his wings, straining to slow down. The air tore at his muscles.

(Ah!) They slid to a painful stop in the parking lot. (You couldn't think of _anything_ else?)

Tobias let go of Cassie and flapped back into the sky, disgusted.

CRACK! A loud noise came from the apartment, followed by loud screams.

(What was that?) Cassie, now an osprey, demanded.

(Hmm. It sounded like one billion Hork-Bajir crashing through sixty stories of apartments.) Tobias said. (Of course, it's only a guess.)

"Stand back." Jake said, and flew at top speed at the wall. He slammed into it with his antlers, and a crack appeared in the wall.

He rammed again, and a hole opened up. Tobias peered through.

(Yup. One billion Hork-Bajir falling sixty-stories to their death.)

Tobias nodded. (Just as I suspected.)

"We've got to save the others!" Jake said. He flew backwards, and then slammed with all of his might into the hole. It crumbled open, and like a trained squadron of fighters, they swooped through.

(You go left, Tobias.) Jake commanded. (I'll go right. Cassie, go somewhere.)

They split up. Tobias flapped desperately down the hallway above bladed heads, looking for Rachel, Marco, or Ax.

(Ahh!) Tobias heard.

(Ax-man!) Tobias yelled. He cranked a sharp left and shot down a smaller hallway.

(I am running up a narrow human staircase!) Ax yelled.

(Aw, man!) Tobias yelled, rocketing through a doorway to the stairwell he knew Ax was on. (That's the staircase to the roof!)

The good thing was that only a few Hork-Bajir could fit through at a time. only about a dozen were coming through the stairs at once.

**THAT CAN BE FIXED. **Cryak grinned, transforming the narrow stairwell into a grand staircase. The Hork-Bajir poured out onto the roof.

Tobias swooped out just above them. He saw a half-brown, half blue Andalite running around the roof.

(What happened?) Tobias exclaimed.

(I began morphing reindeer.) Ax said sarcastically. (It is the only morph with the same leg structure as mine. You see, it is necessary that I keep running, as there are several Hork-Bajir trying to kill me.)

Ax usually didn't get very sarcastic. He was seriously afraid.

(I do not know why I even bothered.) Ax said. (I can't even get off the roof!)

"Yes you can!" Jake yelled, swooping out of the sky. Marco and Rachel were on his back, Marco hand and Rachel foot both red. "Just do it!"

Ax scrambled around two Hork-Bajir, slammed through another with still forming antlers, and chopped one with a disappearing tail.

(Ahh!) Ax jumped over a Hork-Bajir's head and landed on the edge of the roof.

(Ax!) Cassie cried.

Ax kicked his legs forward and rolled onto the center of the roof, now fully reindeer.

**NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU, AXIMILLI? **Cryak sneered. Suddenly, Visser three appeared in a monstrous alien morph. A fleet of bug fighters swooped down from the black sky, along with the blade ship. Cryak sat on the air behind them, legs crossed, a smirk on his face.

Ax stumbled away from the Hork-Bajir, dodging dracon beams and blades. But then a tentacle caught him on his side, and he went spinning through the air. He landed on the edge of the roof.

Ax tottered on the edge, and the hellish army closed in on him. A thousand thoughts whizzed through his head in the one second he had to react.

_Just do it!_

_Just let the magic happen!_

_It's not illogical if it works!_

Ax gritted his teeth and hurled himself over the edge of the roof.


	17. Chapter 17

Ax disappeared over the edge of the roof, and everybody froze.

Slowly, a reindeer rose into the air. Everybody stared at Ax in amazement.

"I can fly." Ax said in wonder. "I can fly!"

**NOT FOR LONG! **Cryak snapped. He pointed at him, and Ax glowed red.

Nothing happened. Cryak looked shocked.

"Magic is too strong for you, Cryak!" Ax said. He looked at the Animorphs. "Right?"

"Uh, Yeah!" Rachel agreed hurriedly. "Right guys?"

They all nodded quickly.

"Then go finish delivering the toys." Ax said quietly. "I'll handle them."

**HANDLE US!?! **Cryak bellowed. **I AM AN OMNIPOTENT BEING, AND THAT IS AN ARMY DOW THERE! SHOW SOME _RESPECT_!**

"Get going. Farewell, Prince Jake." Ax said. Marco saluted Ax solemnly, serious for once in his life. Tobias nodded.

Rachel had tears in her eyes. "I'm going to miss the biggest fight in the history of the universe."

(Wait!) Cassie yelled to Ax. (It's Christmas eve! A time of peace! Don't do it!)

"A huge battle on Christmas eve." Jake said, shaking his head. "That does seem wrong. Christmas eve _is _supposed to be peaceful."

(Yes!) Cassie said (A time a peace, and comfort, and joy, and tranquility!)

"Oh well." Jake shrugged and started flying. "Maybe next year."

They soared away through the dark sky.

(Man, I can't see a thing!) Tobias sighed.

"Yeah, where's old Rudolph when you need him?" Marco cracked.

"Wait a sec." Rachel said. There was a moment of silence.

(&$.) Rachel swore. (Whatever Cryak did to the sky, my owl can't see through it.)

The sky was lit up by a flash of lightning, and Jake spotted a rooftop.

"Okay, next flash of lightning, head for the roof." Jake said. The sky lit up a few minutes later, and they all dropped onto the roof.

Marco slid off of Jake's back. (What'll we do?) Cassie moaned.

Suddenly, the sky was filled with brilliant flashes. Jake spun around, squinting at the roof of the apartment. Huge explosions of red and cyan were lighting up the sky.

"Holy crap." Jake said. There was a small brown dot slamming repeatedly into the large red figure of Cryak. Whenever they hit there was either a cyan or red explosion.

"Never mind." Jake said in awe. "Let's go."

They all morphed reindeer, and took off for the Chee house. They had to pick up the toys now, because the sleigh had been totaled by Cryak.

"Open up!" Jake bellowed when they arrived, knocking on the door with his antlers.

Erek poked his head out with a guilty expression on his face. It turned to a look of amazement. "You're still alive!"

"Yeah." Jake said. "Why would you think that we wouldn't be? You didn't hear about Cryak."

"Uh, yeah." Erek said, not meeting their eyes. "Ellimist kind of got kicked out of the galaxy."

"Oh yeah!" Rachel said accusingly. "Cryak told us Mr. King did something!"

"That's not important right now." Erek said hurriedly. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Ax is holding off the Cryak, because we told him that magic is more powerful than Cryak." Marco said. "Apparently because he thinks it is, it is."

Erek got a look on his face. "Hmm."

He grabbed a barbie and tossed it to Rachel. "We can pretty much assume that everybody in that apartment is dead, so the last one is your house. Sara, remember?"

He raced out the door. "I'll meet you there! We may not be doomed after all! I have to talk to Judge Jordan."

"Wait!" Jake yelled. "Why don't you just take the toy yourself if your going to see Jordan?"

Erek disappeared around the corner.

"Judge Jordan?" Rachel said, shaking her head in disbelief. "What has my family been up to?"


	18. Chapter 18

"Oh my god." Rachel said, opening the front door of her house. The living room still looked like a court room. Erek, Naomi, and Jordan were having a heated discussion around the judge's bench.

When Rachel came in, Naomi and Jordan looked up with twin guilty faces.

"We're so sorry Rachel!" Naomi cried.

"We tried to stop him!" Jordan said.

"It's fine." Rachel said. "Ax is kicking his behind on top of an apartment roof."

She glanced out the window in time to see three red flashes in a row.

"I hope." Rachel grimaced.

"We may be able to bail Ellimist out of oblivion." Erek said. "We're discussing it now."

(Ellimist? Oblivion?) Tobias said.

"You really had to be there." Erek said. "Just deliver the toy."

Rachel went into the kitchen, unceremoniously dumped the barbie into Sara's hands, and stomped back.

"Tell us." Rachel said.

POW! Ax rammed Cryak, and Cryak bellowed loudly, unaccustomed to pain. The sky flashed cyan again.

**HOW DARE YOU, YOU PUNY ANDALITE! **Cryak cried. He slammed the already battered Ax down to the roof. A reindeer shaped dent appeared in the roof, but Ax leapt right back up.

ZAAAAAPPPP! One billion gigawatts of electricity shot from Cryak's fingers and surged through Ax's body. Ax ignored it and slammed into Cryak again and again.

The bug fighters and yeerks were long since destroyed. Visser three had sacrificed his underlings as a distraction so the he could escape. Ax had let him go; He had more powerful people to worry about.

Ax backed away quickly from Cryak, flying away as fast as he could.

**FLEEING? **Cryak sneered in a relieved tvoice, something very hard to do.

Ax spun around in the air, and rocketed towards Cryak. A blur of blue doing well over one thousand miles an hour slammed into Cryak's arm.

**ARGH! **Cryak yelled in pain.

A small, pathetic slit appeared in his shoulder.

A single, feeble drop of the darkest blackness, dropped from Cryak's shoulder. Looking was like being blind. It tumbled through the air and splattered onto the roof, destroying every piece of roof that it touched. It left a pinky sized hole.

But Cryak screamed as if in horrible agony. **THAT WAS MY VERY BEING! **He cried out. **THAT IS THE COSMIC MATERIAL I AM BUILT OF! HOW COULD YOU INJURE ME THAT BADLY?**

You would have sworn that Ax smiled. "Magic."

Cryak was no longer holding back. He blasted Ax with everything he had. Ax closed his eyes, and sent the energy back at Cryak tenfold.

The sky lit up pure white, and everybody in the world with their eyes open were immediately stricken blind.

A vision flashed across both of their eyes. A massive explosion. A tear in the universe; a hole in the space-time continuum.

They were destroying the universe.

"I can't believe it!" Ax exclaimed.

Cryak lunged in that split second of disbelief, while Ax had his defenses lowered. He swung with a blow that would kill Ax.

Ax cringed, waiting for the killing blow.

Instead, a strong hand grabbed Cryak's arm. An arm with strength to match his own.

I'M BACK. Ellimist said. AND YOU ARE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE, CRYAK.


	19. Chapter 19

"Ok." Jordan said. They were all in the court room, a few minutes after Ellimist had restored all of their sight. "Law Gamma-G: If an omnipotent being tries to frame another omnipotent being, he or she loses the galaxy."

**YES. **Cryak growled, chained to the bench, with Ax and Ellimist on either side of him. **JUST TELL ME WHY BUCKET HEAD HERE IS BACK FROM OBLIVION!**

"Now, Ellimist did not break that law." Naomi said. "Because you do not classify as an omnipotent being. Ax robbed you of that title when he defeated you on the apartment roof."

Ax smiled with his eyes.

"And Law Alpha-A," Jordan said, looking at the law book again. "Cryak and Ellimist may under no circumstances attack, threaten, kick, nuke or in any other way cause harm any other omnipotent beings. Apparently any prolonged activity of the afore said kind will initiate the destruction of the space-time continuum, and all life within it will be totally obliterated."

"You, Cryak, were attacking Ax upon the apartment roof." Jake said in a satisfied voice. He was sitting on the witness stand. "He was temporarily classified as an omnipotent being because he was, and I quote, kicking your &."

Cryak sneered.** SO WHAT?**

"So you attacked an omnipotent being, which is against the law." Jordan said. She slammed her gravel down. "I sentence you to an eternity in oblivion!"

Ellimist grabbed Cryak and threw him into oblivion. Cryak screams and curses slowly faded away.

THANKS FOR GETTING ME OUT OF THE SLAMMER. Ellimist said, disappearing. The court room transformed back into a decorated living room.

Jake looked at his watch. It was eight o'clock AM. "Maybe we should be heading home?"

There was no answer. Jake looked up and saw everybody already asleep. Marco was even snoring a little.

"Merry Christmas, everyone." Jake said wearily, collapsing on the sofa. Ax opened one stalk eye.

(Merry Christmas, Prince Jake.) Ax said, lying down on the carpet. (And to all a good night.)


End file.
